The percentage of Baycol patients who got Lopid, too, dropped from 63% to 62%.

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These PPAR alpha drugs include Lopid, which is available in generic form but developed by Pfizer.

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In December 1999, Bayer changed the labeling on Baycol to warn of the Lopid drug interaction.

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In one big study, a similar drug called Lopid had slashed the risk of cardiovascular problems by 22%.

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Both Lopid and Tricor are thought to work by targeting a molecular signal called the peroxisome proliferators activator receptor (PPAR) alpha.

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Unlike Lopid, it does not seem to make the potential muscle side effects of drugs like Lipitor and Zocor more frequent.

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The new label warned that giving Baycol with Lopid, a Pfizer cholesterol drug, substantially increased the likelihood of potentially dangerous muscle side effects.

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The Food and Drug Administration warned in 1999 that combining the cholesterol drugs Baycol and Lopid increased the risk of deadly muscle side effects.

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The percentage of reported rhabdomyolysis patients who had taken both Baycol and Lopid shifted from 63% in the months before the warning to 62% in the months afterward.

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One study showed Lopid cut heart attacks by 22%.

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The new label warned that giving Baycol with Lopid, a Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people ) cholesterol drug, substantially increased the likelihood of potentially dangerous muscle side effects.

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